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Principals tell senators PLC coaching, collaboration led to test-score jumps and fewer referrals
Summary
Principals and teachers told the Senate Education Committee that state-funded Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), implemented with Solution Tree coaching, produced measurable gains — in some schools tripling grade-level proficiency and reducing disciplinary referrals — and that DESE is working to scale and sustain the approach statewide.
Principals and teachers representing PLC pilot schools told the Senate Education Committee that giving educators protected time to collaborate, plus outside coaching, has produced notable gains in student learning and school climate. The witnesses, who testified across the committee’s hearing, urged continued support and wider access for schools that want to adopt PLC practices.
Kalisha Glover, principal at Mabelville Elementary School, described the school’s PLC grant work and the schedule changes that created teacher collaboration time and a schoolwide intervention block. She said Mabelville serves about 475 students (approximately 64% African American, 26% Hispanic and 7% white/other) and credited PLC coaching with reducing disciplinary referrals to 32 for the year, under a goal of 60.
Josh Ray, principal at Eastpoint Elementary in Greenwood, described dramatic reading gains he attributed to PLC practices: "we found out that only 4 percent of our…
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